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A quick look at the facts:
- Giga Omni Media has acquired the jkOnTheRun blog
- Giga Omni Media is the company behind GigaOM and 4 other blogs (shown below)
- jkOnTheRun "focuses on the wonderful world of mobile gadgets, including mobile phones and cloud client computers"
- jkOnTheRun was founded in 2004 by James Kendrick of Houston, TX
- the acquisition lets Kendrick quit his other job to blog full time
- Kevin Tofel of Telford, PA "has been blogging full-time for the site for over a year"
- both will stay with the blog
- the blog will remain independent
Bits of history: (quotes are from TechBlog, linked below)
- Om Malik founded the GigaOM blog in 2001, "initially focusing on broadband Internet access"
- "Malik himself walked away from a day job as a reporter at Business 2.0 to blog full-time in 2006"
- Giga Omni Media raised money from True Ventures and angel investors (date unknown: does anyone have the details?)
- Giga Omni Media previously had a startup-focused blog called FoundRead; that's been folded into a category on GigaOM (does anyone have a link?)
Sources:
- Om Malik: GigaOM Acquires jkOnTheRun
- James Kendrick: Giga Omni Media acquires jkOnTheRun!
- Dwight Silverman: (TechBlog at the Houston Chronicle): Local blog makes good: jkOnTheRun acquired by GigaOM
Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed -- not even by the usual suspects:
- Rafat Ali of paidContent.org, who calls it an Acq-hires.
- Michael Arrington of TechCrunch, who views it through his hyper-competitive lens.
Here's the current lineup at Giga Omni Media:
| # | Blog | T Rank | Alexa | Primary Category | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  | GigaOM | 40 | 28,616 | Web News | |||||
| 2 |  | Web Worker Daily | 759 | 84,675 | Productivity | |||||
| 3 | | NewTeeVee | 845 | 50,176 | Online Video | |||||
| 4 | | Earth2Tech | 3,583 | 96,287 | Green Products | |||||
| 5 | | jkOnTheRun | 9,707 | 72,041 | Mobile | |||||
| 6 | | OStatic | 11,577 | 66,129 | Web Development |
Here's a look at some mobile blogs. Which might be acquired next?
| # | Blog | T Rank | Alexa | Primary Category | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | | Engadget Mobile (AOL) | 422 | 5,878 | Mobile | |||||
| 2 | | IntoMobile | 1,070 | 7,898 | Mobile | |||||
| 3 | | mocoNews.net (paidContent) | 3,271 | 80,107 | Mobile | |||||
| 4 | | SlashPhone | 4,880 | 22,315 | Mobile | |||||
| 5 | | MobileCrunch | 4,914 | 119,360 | Mobile | |||||
| 6 | | jkOnTheRun (GigaOM) | 9,707 | 72,041 | Mobile | |||||
| 7 | | Darla Mack | 27,327 | 93,788 | Mobile Phones | |||||
| 8 | | MobileTracker | 82,932 | 97,932 | Mobile | |||||
| 9 | | Mopocket | 96,541 | 732,718 | Mobile | |||||
| Legend | ||||||||||
| Blogcosm profile of this blog | |||||||||
| Link directly to the blog | |||||||||
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Apropos of yesterday's topic of blogs and money, journalist Sarah Lacy rediscovers that Maybe Blogging is Just a Loss-Leader.
Consider the role my blog plays in just building and sustaining an audience of interested readers.... [That] makes me more valuable in all my other roles that do pay me: columnist, on-camera host, speaker and consultant. If you look at SarahLacy.com as a business, the blog isn’t a profit center. It’s my low cost personal PR, lead generation, networking, advertising all rolled in one.
Or, from Kfir Pravda in the comments:
Personally I see my blog more as a marketing expense coupled with fun and community than a loss leader.
My view: sure, some blogs can make money -- but that's an elusive goal for most. (Also worth noting: most blogging is done as a hobby, so earning money doesn't need to enter the picture at all.)
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